A method for reaching a deployment decision for a restraint system, e.g., for soil trips, is described in published German patent document DE 101 49 112. Soil trips are understood to mean situations in which the vehicle slides sideways after a skid and then runs into a ground surface having a high coefficient of friction, for example, an unpaved surface next to a roadway. If the vehicle then slides to the right, for example, the tires on the right side of the vehicle experience a severe deceleration which then induces a torque on the vehicle on the unpaved surface. In published German patent document DE 101 49 112, the deployment decision is determined as a function of vehicle dynamics data, i.e., a float angle in conjunction with a vehicle transverse velocity and a vehicle tipping motion being used as the vehicle dynamics data. The deployment decision is then reached through appropriate threshold value comparisons.
Published international patent document WO 99/47384 describes reaching a deployment decision for a soil trip rollover as a function of the yaw rate about the vehicle longitudinal axis, a vehicle speed, and a vehicle transverse acceleration. The vehicle transverse acceleration is compared to a fixed threshold value. It is not possible to reach a deployment decision until this fixed threshold value is exceeded.